Lee

Salmon

Dr. Francis Lee, the Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D. Professor of Molecular Biology in Psychiatry and a professor of psychiatry, pharmacology and neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medicine, and Dr. Jane Salmon, professor of medicine in obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medicine and a rheumatologist and the Collette Kean Research Professor at Hospital for Special Surgery, have been elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

Considered one of the top honors in the fields of health and medicine, NAM recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional professional achievement and commitment to service. Lee and Salmon are among 70 new members and nine foreign associations announced at NAM’s 46th annual meeting, Oct. 17 in Washington, D.C.

“I am incredibly honored to be elected to the National Academy of Medicine and feel privileged to be part of an organization with such a distinguished membership,” said Lee, who is also vice chair of research in the Department of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine and co-research director of the NewYork-Presbyterian Youth Anxiety Center. “As a member of the academy, I will work to ensure that issues related to adolescent mental health are at the forefront of the organization’s research and advocacy efforts. I would like to thank my collaborators and especially all the trainees in my laboratory and in the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology, as they made all the fundamental discoveries that have led to this honor.”

“It humbles me to be selected for membership in the National Academy of Medicine, and it gratifies me that the organization values translational work in my area of research,” said Salmon, who is also associate dean of faculty affairs at Weill Cornell Medicine. “As a woman physician immunologist, I’m drawn to women’s health issues and pregnancy in particular, and want to serve as an advocate for this population. I hope that my NAM membership will allow me to advance the agenda of autoimmunity, lupus, pregnancy and diseases that predominantly affect women.”

Lee is a neurobiologist and psychiatrist studying the molecular basis of anxiety disorders. He has pioneered an approach combining molecular and cell biological studies with parallel mouse and human circuit-based and behavioral studies to identify robust genotype-phenotype relationships to inform psychiatric practice.

Lee has served on several panels and boards at the National Institutes of Health and national mental health foundations, and has received numerous honors and awards including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, Burroughs Wellcome Clinical Scientist Award and election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation.

Lee earned his medical degree and a doctorate from the University of Michigan, followed by psychiatry residency training at the Payne Whitney Clinic at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. He completed postdoctoral training in molecular neuroscience at the Skirball Institute, New York University and the University of California, San Francisco.

Salmon’s basic, translational and clinical studies have led to a paradigm shift in the understanding of mechanisms of pregnancy loss, cardiovascular disease and end-organ damage in patients with lupus. She identified the critical role of inflammation as a mediator of placental insufficiency and defined new treatment targets.

Salmon has served on the American College of Rheumatology’s Board of Directors and on advisory boards at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. She has received the Evelyn V. Hess Award from the Lupus Foundation of America, the Carol Nachman international prize in rheumatology, and election to the Association of American Physicians. She has also served as co-editor of Arthritis and Rheumatism and is an associate editor of Annals of Rheumatic Diseases.

Salmon earned her medical degree from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She was the first woman enrolled in its Medical Scientist Training Program, which educates physician-scientists to link laboratory research and clinical medicine. She completed her residency training in internal medicine at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and a fellowship in rheumatology at Hospital for Special Surgery, where she practices rheumatology and conducts clinical studies and research.

Established in 1970, the National Academy of Medicine, formerly known as the Institute of Medicine, is an independent organization of distinguished professionals from a range of fields including health and medicine; the natural, social and behavioral sciences; and beyond. NAM works to address critical issues in health, medicine and related policy through its domestic and global initiatives. The newly elected members raise the total active membership of NAM to 1,947 and the number of international members to 146.

Kathryn Inman is a writer for Weill Cornell Medicine.